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PSA: Photopea is a gamechanger if you are used to scrapping with Adobe

bellbird

bellbird

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PC Mag Australia called Photopea a very capable online clone of Photoshop in this pretty comprehensive article about a year ago, which piqued my interest while looking at different graphics programs recently.

My own digiscrap specific roadtest of Photopea with several screenshots is here on the TLP blog if you want more info or tips
https://the-lilypad.com/road-testing-photopea-for-digital-scrapbooking/

It looks and feels very similar to Photoshop (coming from CS6 edition) but much cheaper and zero commitment if you want to try it out so it's suitable for unsure beginners as well as those that are used to the bells and whistles of Photoshop (and probably later versions of PSElements).


And for our non-english speakers, it's apparently also is available in other language versions; & Photopea creators definitely have a sense of humour and dedicated followers among the graphic design world
Ewnn1cCWQAAvRe9.jpg


- they also have useful tips on their twitter/x page like this one about their drop shadow effects box, not that i'm a fan or follower of that site but i'm a fan of quick visual tips versus long videos for a simple thing)

Let me know if you've given Photopea a try or would based on what you've heard or seen about it.
 
Ooh I might be intrigued to try it cause there's just no money in the piggy bank for any upgraded software.
 
Off to read, thanks Justine! I have looked at this, but only at work... I need to try it out at home! Perfect reminder!
 
I'm still limping along with CS5. I did purchase the Affinity Suite a few years ago when it was on sale during their Black Friday specials (I think). I've done a few layouts with it, but I'm so used to Photoshop, I always fall back on my old habits. At least I've got Plan B purchased and available when CS5 is put to rest...

@bellbird I had attempted Photopea a while ago, but there was no browser mode that I knew of. Glad to hear it. Thanks for all of your information and screenshots. :-) I am also not a fan of subscriptions.
 
Wow! Great blog post! It seems so similar to PSE also. I may check it out. I have PSE 2024 so just before the change to the 3 year subscription.
 
dawnmarch said:
Intriguing! I would find it hard to get rid of photoshop but I also hate the subscription model.
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I looked at PSE and it wasn't clear after the 3 year commitment of $160 now whether you actually own anything or are locked out at the end, so before doing that trial I found There's so many parts of PS I don't use (so mny filters and palettes and menu options but photopea seems to do what I want so far. It may not be as flashy coming from the current CC but it's a step up from CS6. Windows 11 is more of an adjustment to me now than PhotoPea)
 
mcurtt said:
I'm still limping along with CS5. I did purchase the Affinity Suite a few years ago when it was on sale during their Black Friday specials (I think). I've done a few layouts with it, but I'm so used to Photoshop, I always fall back on my old habits. At least I've got Plan B purchased and available when CS5 is put to rest...

@bellbird I had attempted Photopea a while ago, but there was no browser mode that I knew of. Glad to hear it. Thanks for all of your information and screenshots. :-) I am also not a fan of subscriptions.
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I know what you mean about falling back. Photopea feels familiar and comforting without having to do too much 'how do I..?' googling for just basic functions like adding shadows or clipping masks. I hadn't looked in to Affinity yet but I get hating the thought of another subscription and I think that's partly where the browser model for photopea was born from - others also hate the idea & the dominance adobe had over this area.
 
dawnmarch said:
I checked out your post and Photopea is SO much like PS, my lawyer self wonders how they get away with that.
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I did wonder too but I'm also not a lawyer so I wasn't intrigued enough to go digging for the answer lol. I did see it was banned or needed special permission to be used in US schools bc of its hosting location that they thought was in Russia but isn't but from what I've seen about some Americans, not here but it via the news, they don't have the understanding of global geography or like even fact checking so whether that is a way for higher powers to block access to something encroaching on Adobe's IP turf, I don't know but it's one way to halt it's Robin Hood style 'graphic design & photo editing for the people' model
 
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jagruti patel said:
Wow! Great blog post! It seems so similar to PSE also. I may check it out. I have PSE 2024 so just before the change to the 3 year subscription.
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If only I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would have jumped on that too but then also learning the Marty mcfly almanac issues, I won't bother looking for a time machine and just continue to explore photopea's potential for now
 
Wow, it does look a lot like Photoshop. Glad there are becoming more options now. I gave up on them long ago after they went to the whole “renting” model. I have been using Affinity photo for so long now on my iPad that I don’t think I could ever go back to photoshop. It was a pain in the beginning when I had to google how to do everything but after years with it now my brain can’t figure out simple functions in photoshop any more. It’s funny how we get used to things. Thank you for sharing your in depth trial run with this new program.
 
That looks like a great option. Thanks for your time in playing and sharing. I have PSE 2022 and I won't be moving to a subscription, so it's good to know there is something else out there.
 
I played with Photopea a few years ago but found that it is very memory intensive for my browser and then saved file was huge. I had thought to use it on my work laptop for those days when I was bored at work with nothing to do, but then felt guilty about the size of the file to "download and save". Being a browser based software and with out iffy loadshedding power issues we had that also didn't work as when there was no power and no internet I couldn't scrap!

Since then I bought the Affinity suite and am loving using that... a once off price with all the functionality I need was a much better option me.

BUT if I ever got stuck I would definitely fall back to photopea as it seemed so easy to use... great tutorial on the blog too
 
CathQuillScrap said:
I played with Photopea a few years ago but found that it is very memory intensive for my browser and then saved file was huge. I had thought to use it on my work laptop for those days when I was bored at work with nothing to do, but then felt guilty about the size of the file to "download and save". Being a browser based software and with out iffy loadshedding power issues we had that also didn't work as when there was no power and no internet I couldn't scrap!

Since then I bought the Affinity suite and am loving using that... a once off price with all the functionality I need was a much better option me.

BUT if I ever got stuck I would definitely fall back to photopea as it seemed so easy to use... great tutorial on the blog too
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That's a good point about if the internet goes out for browser based Definitely in countries with regular load shedding that would be a consideration I hadn't thought of.
I edited a few photos last night & did notice the file size was larger than I expected but I've also been saving psd's just in case!) & I just figured it seemed large because I'd gotten used to tiff save sizes.
How did you find the transition to Affinity?
 
@bellbird I found Affinity Photo very easy to get used to I guess as I wasn't inbedded in photoshop/photopea and so it was just one program to learn. i followed some photoshop tutorials and then just figured out how to do it in affinity. The affinity tutorials from @Angela Toucan are also a really good help whenever I get stuck.

I had used CorelDraw many years ago so had a basic knowledge of how to do things... and having scrapped in an android app (Pixellab) for my first few years, going to desktop was so much easier. I haven't looked back! I do wish though that Affinity Photo was available on android... that would really be nice!
 
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